On Learning To Wait...

It seems like I’ve come back full circle to a crucial lesson in my walk with God; a lesson that I thought I’d learned. Surprisingly, I’m finding myriad facets to the single issue; like a kaleidoscope, every time I come back to it, I see a new pattern! Which brings us to my pet peeve – waiting! I’ve said it before – I’m not very good at it! (Which is probably why He takes His time teaching me so many aspects of it! And here I was, misguidedly thinking I’d got the hang of it!)

So frankly, waiting gets my goat! Especially, when I have His promises to show me what lies ahead! The intermediate “waiting” period, I find interminably boring! I itch to get things started; just a gentle nudge to get the ball rolling. Not overtly “making things happen”, but rather, a word here, an action there, just to push events along to the inevitable conclusion – His will, not mine! I’d seriously never seen any harm in it! Again, misguided!

In the recent mini crisis that landed on my lap, I employed my misguided tactics and the result of my meddling was anything but peace and joy. (That usually had happened before, but this was the first time I actually noticed the effects of my intervention!)

Finally, He stepped in and gave me a clear command –

“It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” *

You can’t get clearer than that! And just in case I missed it the first time, He repeated it a few verses down!

“...sit alone and keep silent...” **

And just for laughs, He added –

“...put...(your) mouth in the dust - there may yet be hope.” ***

Which was when I actually realised – my Father doesn’t need any help from me to ensure His will comes to pass!

In that moment of crisis, I wanted so badly to jump in and give my two cents, but His words kept ringing in my head, so I forcibly clamped my mouth shut and began to praise Him instead! (Not from any overly righteous motives I confess, but rather to get my mind off certain pithy, stinging remarks I felt like making!) The situation was so bleak, I didn’t really expect any drastic transformation (especially without my ‘wisdomic’ observations!). Imagine my surprise when the opposite occurred!

When I backed off, God came in, and truly He wrought a miracle before my very eyes! The anger and strife dissipated, the unreasonable demands were withdrawn with an apology (!) and peace was restored! I can guarantee nothing I could have ever said would have brought this transformation. It was all Him!

And that was when I understood that waiting is not an endless delay or an interval when you kill time and life is in “pause” mode, but rather seeing God in action! Waiting was me putting my weapons down and saying, “Lord, you do it Your way. I’ll watch.” Waiting was not just longing for a promise to be fulfilled, but rather the knowledge that He was EVERYTHING I needed.

And the words Jeremiah penned began to make sense –

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” ****

And, therefore, I can wait - with joy in my heart and praise on my lips!

* Lamentations 3:26

** Lamentations 3:28 (a)

*** Lamentations 3:29

**** Lamentations 3:24